Hack 35 Putting Things in the Apple Menu

The FruitMenu haxie restores the ability to add
favorite applications, folders, and other things to the Apple
menu ? and more.

Although Mac users are a tried-and-true bunch, stalwart to the end,
there are often outcries when something doesn't
function exactly as users expect. Such moaning was heard when OS X
was released: "Where are my beloved Apple menu
items?"

Prior to OS X, the Macintosh had a feature that many of us enjoyed:
the ability to put items into the
Apple menu, be they folders, files,
AppleScripts, or what have you. Thankfully, Unsanity has
(re)delivered this functionality with an excellent piece of software
called FruitMenu (http://www.unsanity.com/)
that's just the ticket (see Figure 4-2).

Figure 4-2. Choosing items for your FruitMenu

FruitMenu is a small download but packs a decent wallop, immediately
becoming a part of many a user's essential software
downloads. Just as it suggests, FruitMenu allows you to customize the
Apple menu, including customization of contextual menus. And
we're not just talking about files and folders,
either.

The latest version of FruitMenu supports adding AppleScripts and
shell scripts to your menus, the ability to show your IP address (and
upon selection, to copy it to the clipboard, which is an immense time
saver for dial-up users), the ability to show currently running
applications (much like the System menu from previous OSs), in-menu
picture previews (like OS X's Preview pane), as well
as a Move To option, allowing easy organizing across folders you
define. To top it off, you can also assign hot keys to most of your
FruitMenu options.

The similarities to the excellent FinderPop from OS 9
don't end there either; much as you could order the
menu items of FinderPop by naming your files and folders a certain
way, FruitMenu supports the same syntax, allowing you to organize
your power any way you wish.

For only $7, FruitMenu ? along with the many other haxies that
Unsanity develops ? is an excellent addition to the power
user's arsenal.